'It's an adult way to play with my toys': Bringing action figures to life through toy photography

Toy photographer Matt Miller sets up a shot in his workshop. (CTV/Amanda Debison)

Matt Miller is serious about his toy collection, while having fun with it too.

Walking into the 44-year-old’s Halifax home is more like entering into a workroom, photography set, and toy shop, all in one. Every room is full of action figures from the 80s, tools, lighting equipment, and self-built dioramas.

“It’s more of a workshop than it is a living space,” says Miller. “I tell people I have a studio that I sleep in.”

Front and centre in his living room is his latest project: a large toy jet suspended in the air with a light replicating the engine’s exhaust, a black backdrop, and a small humidifier below to simulate air. Surrounding the toy jet is lighting, a camera, and a laptop.

“This is the reissue of the 1983 HasLab G.I. Joe Skystriker,” explains Miller. “I have two of the originals, but this one is a little more modern.”

Those originals are kept, with their packing, on display in another room in the house.

Growing up in Falmouth, N.S., Miller always loved G.I. Joes. Now, over the past six years, he has grown an online following for his toy photography: taking pictures of the characters in action on a handmade set with practical effects, no computer animation.

Building from scratch

Miller says he ‘fell into’ the hobby.

An audio engineer for 25 years, he’s now a lighting technician working with cover bands and for performances at Casino Nova Scotia.

“As an audio engineer, I used to have lots of downtime in the winter, so in my free time, I’d like to learn a new skill, electrical engineering, painting, drawing, or whatever,” he said.

“So over Christmas one year, I knew I had some downtime coming up in January and I thought, ‘well, I’ll liberate all my old G.I. Joes from my folks, and take those back to the city, and maybe I’ll set them up on display or something like that,’ and getting into that, I realized there’s a lot of things I didn’t have from my childhood that I wanted.”

That’s when Miller turned to eBay to complete his collection.

“As that grew, it’s like, okay, well I need places to display them, and build some shelves, and put them on the shelf and okay, well that’s kind of boring. They’re just standing there.”

When he was a child, Miller used to play with his G.I. Joes on model train layouts built by his father, Gary.

“That was so much fun,” recalls Miller. “So I thought, well, I’m just going to build some dioramas like my dad did. So, I went to the hardware store and got a bunch of foam, and kind of learned how to do this, and talked to dad and get some pointers from him.”

Miller didn’t shelve the idea there, going online to learn how to recreate images of explosions and battle damage through LEDs, lighting gels, and spray paint.

“When I got my first one done, four feet by eight feet, I’m like, okay, I’m happy with this look. Good. Took a few pictures, put them up on Instagram and went to bed and didn’t really think anything of it. Next day I get up and my Instagram just kind of exploded,” explains Miller. “And everyone’s like, ‘what program are you using in Photoshop?’ I’m like, ‘oh, well no, it’s just all practical,’ So that’s when I started taking the phone and actually doing behind the scenes videos, and showing how it’s made and set up.”

His Instagram account has more than 4,300 followers.

Knowing is half the battle

Miller admits the past six years have been full of trial and error.

“I had no lighting skills going in, but I worked with a lot of great lighting techs, so I leaned on them and showed them my shots like, ‘what would you do to light this different?’”

Miller also shares tips and tricks from other toy photographers online.

“I bought a couple of the little Lume cub lights, learned about bounce light, direct light, and camera settings.”

He argues he’s not a photographer, so he changes camera settings ‘until something looks good’.

Feeling like a kid again

For Miller, it’s about the fun.

“It takes all the time, and takes any money that I can put into it,” jokes Miller. “That being said, a lot of things are repurposed. I have a couple 3D printers. I used to work at a hardware store during COVID, so I get all the foam pieces from them.”

Though G.I. Joe is the favourite, Miller’s collection and photographs also feature characters from Star Wars, Transformers, and Marvel Comics. His next project is a large Hot Wheels race track.

“My dad got me into this at a real young age, and now it’s an adult way to play with my toys,” laughs Miller.

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